The Wisconsin Department of Transportation's timeline for the North-South I-94 corridor

2005-2008

The State Department of Transportation and Milwaukee Transportation Partners will decide how they think the freeway should be rebuilt and whether it should be expanded.

During this time, residents living near the freeway will learn whether their houses will be torn down, or whether it is likely the project will cause the property values of their homes to decline.

2009-2010

Final design work will be done. The state will buy the homes and businesses it wants to destroy for the freeway.

2011-2016

Full reconstruction of I-94 and the Mitchell Interchange. If the freeway is expanded, Milwaukee property taxes will rise to pay the increased cost of patrolling the freeway, and of treating all the polluted water that will run off the bigger freeway. State taxes will go up to pay for maintaining the bigger freeway.

WisDOT hires firm that aided SEWRPC in freeway widening push to help decide if freeway should be widened
Gosh, no conflict there, right?

July 5, 2005 -- A firm selected by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to conduct studies to help decide whether lanes should be added to the North-South I-94 corridor is the same firm that helped SEWRPC determine two years ago that the expansion should indeed occur.

HNTB, a politically-connected road-building firm, had an $800,000 contract with the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission to assist the agency in the Regional Freeway Reconstruction study that resulted in the recommendation to expand 127 miles of freeway in the seven-county region.

Now HNTB is cashing in on that recommendation through a new contract with the state. WisDOT last week announced it hired Milwaukee Transportation Partners, a joint venture between HNTB and CH2M Hill, to conduct preliminary engineering and prepare an environmental impact statement for the reconstruction of I-94 from the Wisconsin-Illinois state line to the Mitchell Interchange in Milwaukee. The project is expected to cost up to $1.6 billion.

MTP will analyze costs, benefits and impacts of alternatives for the corridor, according to a WisDOT statement.

The value of the contract has not been determined, according to the WisDOT press release.

Milwaukee Transportation also is overseeing design of the Marquette Interchange reconstruction and is the firm that dinged taxpayers for a $685,000 web site.

1st North-South Corridor page

2nd North-South Corridor page

3rd North-South Corridor page

4th North-South Corridor page

5th North-South Corridor page

6th North-South Corridor page

7th North-South Corridor page

8th North-South Corridor page